


A Little Ray Of Sunshine

by girl_next_door_writes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 09:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17020506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girl_next_door_writes/pseuds/girl_next_door_writes
Summary: Tony is going through a hard time when he makes a friend out in cyberspace but can he be rescued from the tower of his own making?





	A Little Ray Of Sunshine

The tower was quiet. Eerily so at this time of the morning when any guests would be tucked up in their beds, and most of the systems shut down for the night. The only sounds were the occasional tapping of a keyboard, and the dull hum of some AC/DC track through the headphones tossed carelessly on the desk. He hadn’t been eating; hadn’t slept for days, had been surviving on a near constant stream of coffee and energy drinks. What had happened out there, up there, had scared the shit out of him and so he had retreated to somewhere safe. He let SHIELD handle the press, just the thought of having to leave this sanctuary was enough to send him spiraling into yet another panic attack. Nobody had really noticed though. It was just Tony being Tony. They all had their own shit to be dealing with in the aftermath of the attack.

The computer emitted a small noise, making him aware of a notification, and for the first time in a while, a genuine smile ghosted across his face as he adjusted the screen, eager to see what update of your life you had presented to the world.

It had happened a few months ago, something on Instagram had caught his eye, and when he followed it back to its source, he had found your blog. He had eagerly devoured post after post until he knew almost every detail about your life and he found himself craving more, so he followed you. He was careful never to like anything too old or leave any comments, he didn’t want to be that guy. He hadn’t even used his real name, just ‘the tower guy.’ Although that wouldn’t really take much to figure out, it could possibly be the one and only Tony Stark.

You’d had a busy day from the looks of it. There were photos of today’s outfit, the meal you’d had for lunch, the book you had just finished and a selfie of you sat in your garden with a bright smile on your face. This was all accompanied by a review of said book and a general update on how your day had gone. It was all just… normal. God, how he longed for normal.

He was lost in his thoughts, staring at his screen when a new notification popped up. A direct message coming through and when he opened it he pushed back from his desk as if he had been scalded. 

Ray of sunshine: Hi. This is a little weird, but I was wondering if you were a real person or a bot?

The message seemed to give him an accusatory glare, and it took him a few moments to gather up the courage to respond. His first thought had been to let you think his account was a bot but then you might have blocked him, and the thought of that had his fingers dancing quickly over the keyboard.

The Tower Guy: Hi. Not a bot that I know of. It is entirely possible that I am an ai unit who has been programmed to believe he is real, but I doubt it. 

Ray of sunshine: You doubt it? That sounds interesting. What makes you so sure you’re not a rogue system?

The Tower Guy: Too many flaws.

Ray of sunshine: A guy who knows and admits he’s flawed? Maybe you are a bot 😉

The conversation flowed easily, and Tony found himself smiling, really smiling for the first time in a while. It was only as the messages came to an end that he realized just how tired he was and that he should probably go to bed. That was the first night in months he fell asleep in his bed and not at his desk. 

The evenings’ conversations turned into occasional messages throughout the day, just checking in with each other, seeing how their day was going. Tony found his heart leaping into his throat every time he heard the message alert, letting him know that somewhere she was thinking about him enough to send a message. 

Days became weeks and weeks slowly turned to months, and they showed no sign of running out of topics of conversation.

The Tower Guy: That can’t be true! 

Ray of sunshine: I swear! A guy I work with is convinced dogs can’t look up.

The Tower Guy: I’m sorry to say, but it sounds like you work with idiots.[G25] 

Ray of sunshine: I can’t say I disagree. 

Ray of sunshine: Hey, TTG?

The Tower Guy: What Ray?

Ray of sunshine: You think maybe you might wanna chat face to face sometime?

Tony stared at the screen, his mind screaming, all the things that could go wrong, that this girl didn’t know him, would hate him, probably wouldn’t even show up, would run a mile is she knew who he really was. Rather than reply he just logged off, the blank screen staring at him almost in disbelief. All at once every ounce of anxiety that had seemed to dissipate over the past months came crashing back with vengeance, and he found himself curled up in a ball under his desk sobbing, unable to breathe. He had thought he could do this, thought he could be ‘normal,’ maybe make a friend who was nothing to do with his world, but he couldn’t. He had been fooling himself.

After three days of Tony not leaving his room, Bruce decided to look at his research, see if something there had triggered this attack. As the computer sprang to life, he saw message after message.

Ray of sunshine: Hey, TTG, it’s okay if you don’t want to. We can still talk here, just thought it might be nice to put a voice to the words.

Ray of sunshine: I’m sorry, it was silly of me to ask, I just realized we’re in the same city and thought it might be cool.

Ray of sunshine: You okay?

Ray of sunshine: I’m kinda worried about you.

Ray of sunshine: Can you just let me know you aren’t dead in a ditch somewhere?

Ray of sunshine: Why do people say that? Are there many ditches these days?

Ray of sunshine: Please. I just want to know you’re okay.

There were more, so many more. Whoever this person was they were desperate to know Tony was alright, so Bruce let out a breath and began to type.

The Tower Guy: Hi.

He hadn’t got much further before a response popped up.

Ray of sunshine: OH THANK GOD!

Ray of sunshine: Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay and then if you are okay I’m gonna come over there and smack you upside the head for making me worry before giving you the biggest ever hug because I’ve missed you, you idiot.

The Tower Guy: Erm, this isn’t Tony. I’m his friend, Bruce. He’s not been in contact because he’s not very well right now. 

Ray of sunshine: Will he be okay? Is there anything I can do?

The Tower Guy: How long have you two been talking?

Ray of sunshine: A few months. We message each other every day, sometimes all day. He’s gonna be okay, right?

The Tower Guy: You want to come over and see for yourself? 

It was a bold move on Bruce’s part, a complete gamble but nobody else seemed to be getting through to Stark so why not. Sending her the address he answered each and every one of her questions and promised to meet her in the lobby before heading off to make sure Tony looked at least a little presentable.

Sitting on the sofa, staring at the tv screen, Tony couldn’t decide what to watch. It was pointless anyway, it wasn’t like anything held his attention. Running a hand through his already disheveled hair, his shoulders slumped as he sighed.

“Turns out, dogs can’t look up. I mean, if they are sitting down they can, but if they are standing their heads can’t bend that far back so technically, dogs can’t look up.” His brow furrowed and he turned, looking over the back of the sofa at the girl who was tentatively making her way over. “Hi TTG. You had me all shades of worried and when I found out about the dog thing I just had to track you down and tell you.” His heart raced as she smiled at him, a genuine smile not one of pity. “Like the shirt, AC/DC, very retro.”

“Is that another way of saying ‘old’?” he raised an eyebrow, the corners of his lips twitching up. 

“If I wanted to say you look old then that’s what I would say. You look like you could do with some sleep but on the whole, you’re definitely not a bot.” throwing herself down on the sofa next to him, she reached for the remote. “So, what are we watching?”

It wasn’t that she ‘cured’ him, that’s not how these things work, there were still moments of panic and feeling as if he was underwater, the nightmares surfaced every so often and some days were worse than others but her being around helped him focus. Matching his breathing to hers, looking deep into her eyes, being able to touch something that was real, that could ground him. With each and every visit he grew bolder until one day, a few weeks later, he left the tower. True, it was only to take her to the coffee shop around the corner, but it was out, and nothing terrible happened, the world didn’t end, she didn’t leave him. That was the day they shared their first kiss, and with every passing moment, Tony was so glad that he had left his tower, both the physical one and the metaphorical one that he had been trapped in.


End file.
